The ins and outs of the school defibrillator bill

Gov. Charlie Baker said he plans to sign a bill by Friday requiring that all schools have automatic defibrillators.

Why is it important?

It will mean that every school in Massachusetts will be required to have lifesaving automatic external defibrillators on hand by July 2018. A defibrillator is used to restart the heart after sudden cardiac arrest — when the heart unexpectedly stops beating.

The bill will help protect students and others with unknown heart problems, especially those involved in athletics. “We are thrilled,” said Allyson Perron, the senior director of government relations for the American Heart Association in Massachusetts. Perron has personally worked on the mandate for the past 11 years.

Michaela Gagne Hetzler, a school adjustment counselor at Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School in Fall River and a cardiac patient herself, has been a long-time advocate of the bill.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Hetzler said. “Quite simply, it saves lives.”

What took so long?

The American Heart Association has been working to create this law for 15 years.

“Some of it was funding,” Perron said. “Legislators didn’t want to pass an unfunded mandate.”

Now, however, many schools already have defibrillators. Some used money in their budgets to purchase the lifesaving devices, while others held fundraising events, or received donated defibrillators from local businesses.

All schools in the city of Fall River have defibrillators on the premises.

Schools that cannot afford a defibrillator, under the bill, can apply for a hardship waiver and receive help with the purchase, roughly $800 to $1,000 per unit.

“A number of families were instrumental in passing this bill,” Perron said.

Those families unfortunately lost children to sudden cardiac arrest, including one Massachusetts family who lost two boys to the condition.

Perron said it was “heartbreaking to know” that some of these children could have been saved if defibrillators were required sooner.

“It will save a lot of lives going forward,” Perron said.

What’s next?

The American Heart Association is working to ensure that high school graduates are trained in CPR. Perron said she was planning to reach out to B.M.C. Durfee High School. Swansea in 2014 became the first school department in Massachusetts to make CPR training a requirement for graduation. Part of the training involves learning to use a defibrillator.

Did you know?

About 20 percent of schools in Massachusetts do not currently have automatic defibrillators.

About 20 percent of the U.S. population is at a school on any given day, whether that be for work, classes professional or parent visits, plays, voting, or other programs.

One child has a sudden cardiac arrest every three days in the United States.